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Reading: What Happens When You Like or Dislike a Book

Great books can be hard to find and I’ve kind of got this pride thing where I have to finish any book I start. But I have noticed one thing that separates the books I love from the books I’m not so much in love with. It’s not that I can’t stop reading them or refuse to put them down (although, this is true). It’s that I can’t stop thinking about them.

Normally I have a habit of watching an episode of a TV show before bed (currently that show is good ole’Doctor Who). But recently I have been getting back into reading before bed. And you know what happened? I couldn’t fall asleep. That’s right. The books I was reading were so stimulating I kept thinking about them and couldn’t fall asleep.

Now, there was another book that I was reading before this most recent round that didn’t do this. I won’t mention the name of it, but I forced myself to keep reading in order to finish it. But this book didn’t keep me up at night. In fact, it made me want to fall asleep more.

So why do I bother reading books I don’t like? It’s hard to say. My sister, who is a student teacher, told her kids that if they start reading a book and don’t like it, stop reading it and find a new one. No harm, no foul. Yet she and I are exactly the same. We force ourselves to read these books that don’t stimulate our minds or keep us excited even when we aren’t reading them.

Now, I’m not talking about books to read for class. (Of course you should finish that book for class if it’s assigned.) I’m referring to recreational reading. Reading FOR FUN.

So what’s right here? Should you force yourself to read a book even if you don’t like it? Are there certain books that should be read even if you don’t like them? Or should you do as she told her kids and stop a book if you aren’t invested in it?